MUSIC REVIEWS: 40 YEARS AFTER WOODSTOCK

By R. A. Pearson

In mid-August 2009 the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival had its 40th anniversary. The celebration of the anniversary, along with the release of a new Woodstock movie, Taking Woodstock, has stirred a renewed interest in the music, the groups, and the events of the Woodstock Festival, the “Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace, Love, and Music” which took place on Max Yagsur’s 600 acre dairy farm near Woodstock, New York, over the weekend of August 15-18, 1969. Over 500,000 music fans and 32 acts attended the outdoor festival and braved heavy rains and poor planning to participate in the event.

The events of the festival, especially the musical performances, were immortalized in a documentary film, directed by Michael Wadleigh, released in 1970, along with a sound tract of the film. The film, Woodstock, and the sound track from the movie were major successes at the time. The entire event had been recorded leading to later releases after the initial success of the first album set.

The first Woodstock album, Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More, was a three-album set including performances from The Who, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Country Joe McDonald and the Fish, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Ten Years After, Jimi Hendrix, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. During the CD years this three album set was re-released as a two CD set. There is a Best of Woodstock CD released in the mid-1990s. This is a 12 cut CD collection, and it includes the mandatory Country Joe McDonald “Fish Cheer,” The Who, the Jefferson Airplane, Ten Years After, and Jimi Hendrix. The CSN&Y selection on Best of Woodstock is “Wooden Ships.”

In 1971 Woodstock Two was released. This album included more songs from performers who were on the original album and movie and cuts from performers who were not on the first album. There were two great songs, “Theme From An Imaginary Western” and “Blood Of The Sun,” from Mountain, as well as two songs by Melanie (Melanie Safke) on this double album. However, most of the album was given over to music by CSN&Y, Joan Baez, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix.

There are also several box sets of Woodstock CDs available containing The Original Woodstock, Woodstock Two, and other recordings from the weekend. Recently there has been an effort to release the performances of the various bands at the festival. Released under the title “The Woodstock Experience,” most of these are two CD sets. So far Janis Joplin, Santana, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Airplane, and Sly and the Family Stone have released such CDs. Jimi Hendrix has a Woodstock CD entitled Live At Woodstock.

The Woodstock festival was not only immortalized in film and on the recordings of the event itself, but in several songs about the event. Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” appeared on her 1970 hit album Ladies of the Canyon and was ‘rockafied’ up and covered by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young on their 1970 album Deja Vu. Mountain’s ode to the festival, “For Yasgur’s Farm,” appeared on their 1970 LP Mountain Climbing. Since then Woodstock has made many cameos in songs, poems, literature, and is part of the persona of the counter culture movement of the 1960s and early 1970s.

On a sad note, the music world said goodbye to guitar legend and innovator Les Paul who died at age 94. Les Paul was best known for his design of the solid-body guitar which bears his name, the Gibson Les Paul. His work on studio improvements in recording and mixing made him an important factor in the rock’n’ roll movement. He will be missed.